What does a musical performer do?

What is the relationship between a composer and a performer? How important is interpretation? How do musicians from different cultures manage to work together? What if the composer dislikes the interpretation?

This podcast explores the arts, interpretations and music from different cultures

Emotions vary from culture to culture

In this article, the writer argues that the classical view, from Descartes to Pinker isn't supported by the scientific evidence. We learn our emotions and different people experience them differently.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/26/why-our-emotions-are-cultural-not-hardwired-at-birth

Is "learning styles" a neuromyth?

Many teachers and students feel intuitively that the theory of 'preferred learning styles' reflects their experience of teaching and learning. But according to many experts in neuroscience, there is little evidence to support it as an effective teaching practice. In a letter to the Guardian, 30 experts warned against belief in this practice.



https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/12/no-evidence-to-back-idea-of-learning-styles

Versions of English spoken in England

In this Guardian article, there are some great examples here of adaptations of the English language. Some argue that some dialects are superior to others.

What is original?

After watching Part 1 of Everything is a Remix, my class and I had an interesting discussion about influence and appropriation in art. The examples it uses start with music: Led Zeppelin and hip hop, both of which the class had some knowledge of. When you ask the same questions about the visual arts, it becomes hard to define originality.

An art teacher who was visiting the class brought up the work of Marcel Duchamp and the Mona Lisa postcards he defaced. The more you know about it, the more original the concept becomes.